While you were looking at Dwight Howard or Derrick Rose this preseason, the New Orleans Pelicans put together a nice little 7-1 record.

Then on opening night the Pelicans had a 16-point second half lead against the contending Pacers, a lead the more experienced Pacers were able to make evaporate behind some strong play from Paul George. Still, the Pelicans looked good.

Anthony Davis isn’t surprised his team could do all that — he liked what he saw in the preseason, he told ProBasketballTalk. The talent is there — over the summer New Orleans added an All-Star point guard in Jrue Holiday, former Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans, and big man Greg Stiemsma to a lineup that already had Eric Gordon and Davis (when they were healthy).

There is potential there if this group can come together.

“That’s why we took preseason so serious, you know, because we’re a very new team — Tyreke, Jrue, Greg, Jeff (Withey), Anthony Morrow — so we definitely a new team,” Davis told ProBasketballTalk. “And that’s why we had to take preseason serious — nobody had played with each other. It was a totally different thing than last year.

“I think things are coming along well. We’re getting to know the system pretty well and we’re going to be fine. I think if we continue to work hard, trust in the system, trust in each other then I think we really have a chance.”

A chance at the playoffs?

“It’s be nice, but if we get there we get there,” Davis said. “If we don’t we don’t we figure out why we didn’t get there, what happened, and fix that.”

The team is still bonding, growing together, doing it over things like dinners on the road, and playing NBA 2K14.

He adds that seeing himself in the game, especially 2K14 with the next gen gameplay, is still surreal.

“I still play 2K all the time, playing with all the stars you look up to — LeBron (James), Kobe (Bryant), ‘Melo (Carmelo Anthony), Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, everybody you look up to and see on the cover — then me with 2K13 and 2K14 I’m playing with these guys and against these guys and it’s crazy to see yourself on the game,” Davis said. “The first time you play a 2K game you go to create a player and you create yourself, just so you can be in the game and see how you jell with the other players and stuff like that. And now when you buy the game I’m already on it.”

Davis flew under the radar last season, as much as the No. 1 overall pick who is considered a franchise changer can. He had injuries, Damian Lillard got hot and the focus of the basketball world was not New Orleans. Still he showed a very smart game, an ability to finish at the rim and draw fouls, which led to a very good 55.8 true shooting percentage.

If you watched him last season then saw him in this preseason and on opening night, you see a much improved offensive player. His face-up game got a lot better; he is more comfortable and aggressive with it and with his midrange jumper (which still needs to find its range).

That’s not an accident, he worked on it.

“I definitely have, trying to get better as a player, working on that midrange game, things in the post, that’s a couple of things I’ve been focusing on this offseason,” Davis said. “Hopefully 2K seen that and put it on the game so I can have that as one of the things I can do. That will help my rating as well.”

Got to love he wants a better rating for his work. He’s still a kid at heart… just one that is a very good basketball player who could someday lead a deeper Pelicans team a long way.

The Pelicans are disappointing this season — it is Anthony Davis vs. the world down there. Which is the main reason they are 7-16 this season. While things have gotten better since Jrue Holiday‘s return, Davis is averaging a league-best 31.4 points per game, it then drops off to Holiday at 15.4, and then E'Twaun Moore at 11.1.

When a team struggles, usually that is a bad sign for the coach. Not because it’s always their fault, but because GMs choose not to fire themselves for poor roster construction. Which leads to the question: Alvin Gentry, are you concerned about your job? (Warning, NSFW)

New Orleans’ struggles are not on Gentry, certainly not completely. He’d like a roster that can play uptempo, that has depth. What he got instead was a good point guard, an elite 4/5, a rookie in Buddy Hield that maybe pans out down the line, and then… nada. And the roster Gentry has often is banged up.

If anyone is in trouble, it is GM Dell Demps. Remember, Danny Ferry was hired last summer for the vague role of “special advisor.” Gentry is in his second year, and the issue is the roster he was given. But the Pelicans are a patient organization that values continuity, so… who knows. But the clock is ticking on Davis;, it’s years away, but the Pelicans need to build a team around him and are far from that right now.

Jones told the Beacon Journal he will retire after next season, which will be his 15th in the NBA. His ultimate dream is to ride off after three consecutive championships in Cleveland

“I know playing 15 years is a number where I can look back and I can be like, ‘I accomplished something,’ ” Jones said. “Fourteen vs. 15 may not be much, but to be able to say I played 15 years, that’s enough for me to hang ’em up.”

Jones’ contract expires after the season, so the Cavs will have a say in whether he returns. Safe to say if LeBron wants him back, Jones will be back.

But the Heat got into trouble relying on washed-up veterans around LeBron, wasting valuable roster spots on players who could no longer contribute.

Is that Jones? Not yet. Though he’s out of the rotation, he has still made 11-of-12 open 3-pointers this season. There’s a role for him as spot-up shooter when Cleveland needs one.

Still, the Cavaliers ought to be mindful of Jones’ likely decline over the next year and a half. Plus, it’s not a certainty he holds to his timeline. Cavs veterans have a history of changing their mindon retirement.

Phil Jackson wants us to know Carmelo Anthony can hold on to the ball too long and stall out the offense.

Shocking. Such a revelation. It’s not like he knew that when he gave Anthony a five-year contract extension… oh, wait, everybody did know that already.

Which leads to my criticism of Jackson in this PBT Extra. Taking a shot at a player as a coach who sees said player every day comes off differently than the same thing from the ivory tower criticism of a GM. Plus, Jackson’s timing made no sense.

The New York Knicks were on a four-game winning streak, they have looked like a potential playoff team in the East, team chemistry has been pretty good, and there seemed to be more sun shining on Madison Square Garden then we have seen in a few years.

“At the end of the day we’re playing good basketball,” Anthony said. “That’s the only thing that matters at this point. So any negativity that’s coming towards me or towards the team, I don’t think we need it at this point…

“I feel like we’re playing good basketball, and just to have a temporary black cloud over our heads,” he said. “I don’t know when the comments were made or the gist of them, I just know something was said.”

Anthony is spot on here. Jackson isn’t wrong that Anthony can hold the ball too long, but Jackson knew that when he gave Anthony a five-year contract extension. Also, the Sports VU camera data shows Anthony is holding the ball less and dribbling a little less than previous seasons.

But the real question: What did Jackson think he would accomplish with this? He’s too smart, too calculated — he doesn’t just say things to the press without a motive. But with everything going about as well as one could hope with the Knicks, and with Anthony not at a point in his career he’s going to change his game, what’s the point?